ItemB: new Milestone

23 Apr ItemB: new Milestone

Coordinated by Protom, ITEMB goes beyond expectations

A new Milestone has been reached by ITEMB project, which sees the consortium coordinated by Protom engaged in the challenge of rethinking the current standards related to the Landing Gear Bay in the medium range aircrafts segment. After that the composite configuration was frozen in October 2017 the objectives of the period have been validated at this stage through tests.

The concept of the Upper and Vertical Bulkheads of the Landing Gear Bay bay has been refined (reaching an advanced level of definition), this concept has been then subjected to tests with positive results. Tests have been done on samples of scale models of the composite structural parts, these have been produced specifically to be analyzed and subjected to possible corrective actions, before the realization of the final demonstrator.

During Tests It has been possible to find good performances of some of the areas considered most critical, with a consequent reduction in the level of risk, which in perspective provides good guarantees in terms of reliability. The results that emerged in terms of weight reduction are also significant, the cost analysis also highlighted a reduction in assembly costs beyond expectations.

Airbus, Topic Manager of this project within Clean Sky2, has expressed positive feedback in terms of the achieved objectives underlining the excellent quality of the work carried out from the technical point of view.

A new phase now opens, which we hope will lead to a future partnership with Airbus, to implement the solution proposed by ITEMB on aircraft, following a further refinement process and testing the configuration proposed by Protom and its Partners. This would give rise to a new scenario based on a composite Landing Gear Bay structure altogether lighter and cheaper than the metal one.

The proposed solution by ITEMB, in fact, based on a single integrated structure, reduces assembly costs by integrating the design, construction and maintenance process of the aircraft, in line with the overall Clean Sky 2 program objective to optimize the air transport systems by increasing the sustainability.